Video games are tough. They are tough to play, sure, but moreover tough to make. The amount of work that goes into creating one game is unfathomable, but Indie Game: The Movie is here to help us to understand the gruelling process that developing a game is. Indie Game: The Movie has stirred up a lot of interest in the gaming community since it's development was announced. … [Read more...]
The Cove (2009) review by The Documentalist
Winner of the 2009 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, The Cove centres around the mass slaughter of dolphins in Japan which immediately means that it is going to be an emotive documentary and, for most, a tough watch. In reality whilst it is hard to endure, it is not entirely because of the subject matter. … [Read more...]
Marley (2012) review by That Film Punk
With Marley, Director Kevin Macdonald adds to his increasing roster of fine documentaries, presenting an energetic and moving portrait of arguably the 20th century's greatest musical icon. Right from the off this is a film packed full of character, verve and passion. Macdonald clearly embraces this aesthetically, with colours bursting forth from the screen at every opportunity. … [Read more...]
Dreams of a Life (2011) review by That Art House Guy
In January 2006, the repo men arrived at Joyce Carol Vincent's bedsit in Wood Green, north London. She was heavily in arrears in her rent and they had come to collect. When there was no answer, they broke the door down, and inside, they found a skeleton lying on the sofa. Joyce had been dead for almost three years. The television was still on and there was a small pile of … [Read more...]
A League of Ordinary Gentlemen (2004) review by The Documentalist
Many of the best documentaries made are as much a documentary as a showcase for something that is perhaps enjoyed by the few and ignored by (or unknown to) the many. The documentary film maker has the luxury therefore of showing the world what they are missing provided they structure their narrative correctly and make their subject interesting and exciting. … [Read more...]
Review: Project Nim (2011)
Released in the same week as Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes in 2011, Project Nim is the story of an experiment started in 1973 to see if raising a chimp in a human family and teaching it signing would result in it acquiring language skills. Headed up by Herbert S Terrace at Columbia University, 'Nim Chimpsky' (a play on Noam Chomsky, the famous human language theorist) was … [Read more...]
Review: Hell and Back Again (2011)
These days, any documentary film maker looking to tell any kind of Iraq story is entering a bloated genre full of award winning stories covering almost every aspect of war. It would perhaps therefore be foolish to try and create anything that would try to add to the genre without it being lost in the background but photojournalist and first time film maker Danfung Dennis has … [Read more...]
Review: Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (2011)
Nominated for the 2011 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory is an HBO documentary, and is, as the title would suggest, the third in a series of documentaries covering the story of the 'West Memphis Three'. The story revolves around the chilling triple murder of three adolescents in 1993 in a small town in Arkansas and the subsequent trial and … [Read more...]
Review: Jesus Camp (2006)
Jesus Camp follows the work of Becky Fischer, a preacher who specialises in teaching children about the Bible at a camp in North Dakota. Rather than preach to free thinking adults, she takes those who are easily trained in her words “ children “ and whips them into a brainwashed frenzy in the name of worshiping God and becoming his ˜army' to take back America from the … [Read more...]
Review: Senna (2011)
Senna is a documentary film, directed by Asif Kapadia, which focuses on the life and career of Formula 1 legend Ayrton Senna. Starting with his early life as a Go Kart champion in Brazil, moving onto his arrival on the F1 circuit, through his heated rivalry with Alain Prost and all the way to his untimely death, the documentary paints the picture of a man obsessed with winning, … [Read more...]